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Heartbeats: The Izzat Project brings taboo of honour and violence to the fore

By Noor JavedStaff Reporter

Tues., Dec. 4, 2012

It’s a comic book that begins with a love letter.

A moving message that six young South Asian women in Toronto have written to their audience, their families and communities to explain why they have shared difficult stories of honour-based violence and resilience with the world.

Book cover of Heartbeat: The Izzat Project

Panel 1

Panel 2

Panel 3

Panel 4

Panel 5

Panel 6

“We are doing this out of love,” the letter begins. “Our lives have changed since we wrote these stories, because ... we got older ... we fought back,” it says.

The six stories, illustrated into comics, make up Heartbeats: The Izzat (Honour) Project, a book which aims gives these young women an artistic outlet to discuss the realities of being a South Asian woman in Toronto.

“The idea for the project emerged in the aftermath of high-profile murders of South Asian women across the country,” said Farrah Khan, one of the co-ordinators behind the project and counsellor at the Barbara Schlifer clinic, which provides legal representation and counselling to 4,000 women every year and also supported this project.

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“We found that a lot of people were speaking on behalf of these women, and many of them felts voiceless. We wanted to give them a way to own their stories,” she said.

“And a safe place where these nuanced and sensitive conversations can take place.”

So Khan, in collaboration with others launched the Pomegranate Tree group, a Toronto-based organization aimed at supporting diverse communities through research, education and creative projects. As its inaugural project, the organization reached out to the community to find six women between the ages of 17 and 26, interested in the arts.

The group met once a month from March to December to share stories and to talk. Their conversations were written into stories which were moulded into comics with help from illustrators Somya Singh and Selena Wong.

But even the comic-style treatment of the stories can’t hide the complexities in each one.

In the story Bad Daughter, the author describes the pressure of meeting the expectations of her parents and society. Another called The Tree, describes the stress of being uprooted and moving to Canada. Some deal with intergenerational conflict, others with shame.

The plan is not to stop here, said Khan. The next phase of project may involve reaching out to mothers to give them an opportunity to be part of the discussion.

The book launch for Heartbeats: The Izzat Project takes place Dec. 4, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Limited copies will be available for $25.

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